French round-up: Signings at Villeneuve and Lezignan; structure of lower divisions confirmed

Our weekly round-up from the French domestic leagues, in partnership with TreizeMondial.

Dragons’ reserves team sign Goffin

One of the stars of last season’s Elite 1 championship, Jayson Goffin, has signed for St Esteve XIII Catalan from Villeneuve. They have also handed trials to several youngsters, who will train with the club in August. Hugo Bravo, Rachid Mekkaoui and Tom Azema, son of Franck the coach of Clermont Rugby Union.

Three new faces for Villeneuve

Following on from the arrivals of William Ousty and Brad Wall, Villeneuve have made three new additions to their squad. Franck Maria, brother of Catalans’ utility Antoni, and Mike Melhout join from Avignon, while centre Latrell Schaumkel arrives from New Zealand.

Anderson brothers in the market

VARL, the club of Anderson brothers Vinnie and Louis, have made their first two new signings of the summer. Djamel Remok, a utility back who played in Villefranche last season, and young hooker Clement Cartier, who played a handful of games in Elite 1 for Carcassonne.

Former Barrow man in at Lezignan

Photo courtesy of Catalans Dragons

Lezignan, semi-finalist in both the cup and the championship in the last two seasons, have recruited Arnaud Bartes from St Esteve. He played for Barrow in the Championship at the end of 2018, and is the second newcomer at Lezignan following the arrival of Remy Marginet.

France youngsters to face Toulouse

France’s equivalent of England Knights will take on Toulouse Olympique in a training game on August 1. 22 have been called up including former Toulouse forward Bastien Canet and young Catalans Dragons players Paul Séguier and Arthur Mourgue.

After unveiling the fixtures for the Elite 1 and 2 championships, the FFR XIII have now publised details of their other divisions. In the National Division (third tier), the 16 teams will be divided in to two groups of eight, while in the Federal Division (tier four), the 24 teams will be split in to three groups of eight. These championships will start at the end of September.

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